Signaling system



April 27 19269 L. F. FULLER grammar, SYSTEM Filed June 15, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M w 0 n 8 51/ WWI.- MWM 4 M W 4 w MN pril 279 @260 s I 3,582,460

' L... F. FULLER SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed June 13, 922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7/ INVENTO/r' rarest arms.-

LE ONABD 1?. FULLER, OF PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOE, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, T0 \VIRELESS IMPRQVEMENT A CORPGRATIQN OF NEW JERSEY.

COMIANY, 0.15 JERSEY CITY, NE'W JERSEY,

SIGNALING SYSTEM.

Application filed June 13, 1922.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD F. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at 1499 Cowper St, Palo Alto, in the county of Santa Clara, ttate of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Signaling Systems; and I do here by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This inventionhas for its object the pro vision of an arc signalin system in which auxiliary means are employed for establishing and maintaining the arc underconditions where it"could ordinarily neither es tablish itself nor maintain itself after having been established by any of the well known n1etl1ods,;and further, the utilization of such an arrangement for signaling with are converters of all sizes and powers.

In accordance with the invention an arc of any size or power may be established and maintained or extinguished at will for signaling purposes by means of an auxiliary circuit separate and distinctfrom the main circuit which supplies current to the are, the

auxiliary circuit being controlled by the manipulation of a sending key or a high speed automatic sender or the like. In this way the usual ditliculties encountered in interrupting, varying, or otherwise directly controlling the current supplied to the arc electrodes are overcome. Further, since the are is started and stopped for each dotand dash or other character, it is possible to save the power ordinarily consumed between dots and dashes, words, messages, etc; and the power so saved may, in many cases, amount to more in kilowatt-hours than the power actually consumed during the transmission of messages. Moreover, an arc transmitter in which such an arrangement is embodied becomes inherently uni-wave in operation since the arc is actually started and stopped in accordance with the conventional signaling characters, energy being radiated at but a sin le wave lengththat,of the signal.

In S. Letters Patent Nos. 1,316,172and Lita-05, granted to R. G. Marx and my self, Ne. 1,339,191,-granted to myself, there is disclosed various methods of signab Serial No. 568,074.

ing with an arc transmitter wherein an aux --l52,789, discloses a uni-wave arc signaling system employing an arc ted by alternating; cu rent and having a varying electro-magnetic field. Thissystem utilizes a stable alternating current arc, that is, the are when once ignited will continue to burn; and signaling is accomplished by interrupting or otherwise directly controlling the current supplied to the arc electrodes in accordance with the usual conventional characters. The alternating current are therein described may however, be arranged to automaticallv ignite itself by employing suitably spaced are electrodes and a proper value of applied potential. To provide against contingencies however, and other conditions tending to produce irregular operation, certain stabilizing; systems are described in that application, by means of which the arc may be reignited and thus stabilized in the course of its operation. Those systems are, however, designed onlv for stabilizing the arc and are not adapted to be used for signaling purposes. A

The present invention involves, as distin ,QUlSllGCl from the arrangen'ients described in the aforementioned U. S. Letters Patent and.

application, the adjustment of the separation of the arc electrodes to so great a value for a given working potential that without.

auxiliary means for breaking down or ionizing the space or gap between the arc electrodes, the potential so applied to the are electrodes will neither establish nor maintain the are it once ignited by any of the well known methods. The invention also involves the employment of auxiliary means ior ionizing or breaking down thearo gap and establishing and maintaining the are at will. That is, upon the continuous a pit cation ofthe ionizing means the are null once he ignite-d and maintained and when the ioni 11 means witl drawn the arc will become ng'uishet Irrespective of the particula adjustments described above it will be understood that other alternative and equivalent adjustments may be mad,: and that the intermittently ope 'ated auxiliary ionizing means and its control through a suitable key in conjunction with the arc, comprises the signaling system of the present invention whereby the arc current between dots ant dashes, etc, is saved, and which, if desired, permits the ope ation of an are on much lower voltages than has heretofore been possible owing to the arc btcoming unstable.

It has been found p actinble to employ an are fed by eithe' alternating or direct current, and with such are a magnetic lield of either direct or alternating current may be employed. It a direct current are is employed a direct current field should preferably as employed. In any event, however, the are so employed is adjusted to a condition in which it will neither establish itself, nor maintain itsclt even after being established by any of th well known methods, and would in any use be considcred as an unstable or inoperatiyely adjusted arc, according to the well defined principles of the present arc practice.

The condition of the are as above described may be obtained by the adjustment of the electrodes, which may be of metal in the case of an alternating current are; the choice of a suitable potential to be applied to the are electrodes; and a proper strength of magnetic field, or by the relative adjustment of one of these factors with respect to the other or others.

The auxiliary means for ionizing or breaking down the arc space may be of any form of electrical discharge, disruptive or other vise and may be energized trom a separate source or current supply from that furnishing current to the are electrodes. In this connection it should be noted that it is preferable to use the present invention in connection with alternating current arcs it large power is to be controlled because of the trouble encountered in commutating a large intermittent load on a directcurrent gene 'at-or. Further, the metallic water cooled electrodes which may be used with an a ternatingcurrent are are particularly adapted for operation in connection with the present signalingsystem, as will be explained hereinafter. It is to be understood, however, that the electrodcsbetween which the ionizing discharge is produced need not be the main arc electrodes, but may be auxiliary electrodes suitably arranged with re.- spect to the main arc. gap.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings and the following description, for a further and more complete understamling of the invention:

Fig. 1 illustrates an e ternating current are transmitter having a direct current magnetic lield and provided with auxiliary means for ionizing the arc space whereby signaling accomplished by controlling the auxiliary ionizing means;

Fig. 2 illustrates a direct current arc transmitter provided with similar auxiliary means for signaling pin-post and Fig. 3 illustrates an arc transmitter wherein the ionizing discharge is produced between auxiliary ele trodes suitably arangzed witl respect to the main arc gap.

The system of Fig. 1 comprises an arc converter having main electrodes -l-5 between which an are 1 may be main nined when once ignited and when supplied with current from the a ternator (3, or other alteinating current source, through the supply circuit S-9 containing the control rcactance 7. The are 'l is subjected to the action 0" an electromagnetic lield produced by the electroina nct it) which energized from the direct current 11 or other direct current source.

It will be inderstood that the are l is so adjusted that it can neither establish itself nor maintain itsclt it once estaljdishcd. This condition may be brmightv about by the manipulation of the separation ot the nu tallic electrodes, the value of the otential ot the currents supplied to the arcand the strength of the magnetic field, or by the manipulation of each severally. or in combination. I

The auxiliary means for lUillAllig the arc space between the arc electrodes t and 5 comprises the source of alternating current 12, the trans'lormer 13, the gap 14: which ma) he an) one of the well-known torms oi spark gap, and the metal are electrodes l, 5 which are connected in the ionizing circuit at the points 15 d it i The operation of the i purposes is as 'ollows: Assn line the arc to be properly adjusted andL in a condition wherein it will neither cstal'ilish itself nor maintain itself when once ign ted, but in a condition wherein it the arc space is continuously ionized the arc will be ignited and continue to burn. T when interten for signaling The key i mittently operated to open or c ose the circuit 18, 19 will cause a spark discharge to occur, both in the gap Li and across the arc space between the electrodes l and 5. The sparkcdiscl arge between the metal arc electrodes serves to ionize the arc space and thereupon arc will become ignited and will continue to burn as long the spark is n aintained.

Itwill, therefore, be seen that the key 17 serves to control the operation of the are without controlling or interrupting large th e mes-

currents and, moreover, the are current between the dots and dashes or other cl1aracters of a word and the space between lustrated, in Figure 1.

source 31 connected to the usual are elec-' trodes 32, 33. The are 80 is connected in the antennaground system 3 1-, 35 and the auxiliary ionizing system 36, 3'7, 38, 39, a0, 41 is connected to the arc electrodes 32, 33 at the points 1 5, it. The direct current electromagnetic field produced by the magnet 46 is energized from the direct current source 45.

Referring now to Figure 3 wherein the ionizing discharge is produced between the auxiliary electrodes 5051, the are system is arranged in a similar manner to that il- The main arc'electrodes 5253 may be of metal. since the are current is furnished from the alternator 5a or from any suitable alternating current source and supplied to the electrodes 52-53 through the circuit 5556 containing the control reactance 5? for well-known purposes. As in the case of Figure l the arc electrodes 52-53 are direct in the antenna earth system 58-59 respectively.

The circuit supplying the necessary energy for producing the ionizing discharge between the auxiliary electrodes 50-51 is arranged in a similar manner to those illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and the auxiliary ionizing discharge is controlled by the key 60, which interrupts the alternating current supplied by the alternator 61 connected to the primary o1 transformer 62. The operation of the are system 01" Figure 3 includes the manip-niation of the key in the auxiliary ionizing circuit and takes place in accordance with the explanation given in con nection with the operation of the system illustrated in Figure 1; that is, upon closing the key 60 an ionizing discharge takes place between the electrodes 50-51 which serves to ignite and maintain the are as long as the key 60 is closed. As soon as the key 60 is opened, however, the ionizing discharge is withdrawn from the gap and the are at once becomes extinguished. iVhile the magnetic field produced by the electromagnet 63 supplied from the current source 64 is a direct current field, an alternating current field may be employed if desired. More over, if the are current supplied to the main are electrodes 52-53 is obtained from a eolyphase system the current employed for energizing the auxiliary ionizing means may also be obtained from the same system but should preferably be connected to a different phase from that supplying the are proper in order that the ionizing eifect may be ap proximately a maximum when the alternating supply Voltage is a minimum. This increases the antenna current considerably over that obtained when both circuits are operated from the same phase.

I claim:

1. The method of signaling withan are transmitter which comprises igniting and extinguishing the are by intermittently producing an auxiliary ionizing discharge in or about the are space, maintaining the auxiliary ionizing discharge throughout the duration of each signal impulse thereby maintaining the arc throughout the duration of each of said impulses and interrupting the are by interrupting the ionizing discharge at the end of each signal impulse.

2. An arc signaling system comprising a pair of spaced are electrodes and a source of current therefor, the spacing of said electrodes and the operating voltage being such as to normally preclude igniting or maintaining an are between said electrodes and means for reducing the resistance of the are space whereby an arc may be intermittently established, maintained and interrupted therein in accordance with signal characters.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature.

LEONARD F. FULLER. 

